Asking the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial for relief from a trial court judge's ruling on interlocutory matters is "extraordinary," and rarely results in the high court granting the appeal, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice Fernande Duffly said in his April 7 decision to keep in place the gag order in the Aaron Hernandez's murder case.

The Bristol County District Attorney's Office argued that Superior Court Judge E. Susan Garsh's gag order was "draconian" and unconstitutional for violating prosecutors' First Amendment rights of free speech.

Hernandez's lawyers asked for the gag order after several media reports last November that quoted anonymous law enforcement sources who said Hernandez, 24, the former Patriots tight end, was being investigated for a purported gun trafficking operation in Massachusetts.

Garsh issued her gag order in February that explicitly prohibited lawyers and law enforcement officials assigned to the case from making public, extrajudicial statements that could be seen as prejudicial to Hernandez's case. Garsh's order also requires the district attorney's office to train its employees, even the non-lawyers, on the order's requirements.

Prosecutors cried foul, and said Garsh's order prevents them from even summarizing courtroom events and statements to the media.

However, Duffly said that the district attorney's office did not prove that Garsh committed an "irredeemable error" in issuing her gag order, which Duffly described as "carefully crafted."

Duffly also said Garsh's order does not prevent the press from "free and robust" reporting on the case.

Hernandez - charged with murder for the June 2013 shooting death of Odin Lloyd in North Attleborough - remains held without bail at the Bristol County House of Correction in Dartmouth. He is scheduled to return to Fall River Superior Court on June 16 for a pretrial hearing.